I'm not sure why they used a picture of me from 100 pounds ago, but maybe that's just KFAN's way of keeping expectations incredibly low and/or bringing in the chubby chaser demographic. Whatever the case, Thursday at the Minnesota State Fair there will be a dating game-style show on KFAN featuring me as the bachelor and Paul Allen as the host. I'm expecting to either find a wife or die of embarrassment on air, with nothing in between. Good radio either way.

For years, there had been nibbles from publishers in New York, but no bites. Now, with breast cancer metastasizing through her bones, she decided she didn't have time to wait; she would publish them herself. But because she was Emily Meier--driven, focused, hardworking--she didn't do this halfway. Instead, she started her own publishing company.

Sky Spinner Press of St. Paul, incorporated as a for-profit business and co-owned by Meier's son and daughter, has published all six of her books in record time. ... The books are done, but Meier continues to write daily---her website (www.emilymeier.com) is an orderly maze of drop-down menus and essays and suggestions for book clubs and links to reviews and interviews. There's even a page of quotes from rejection letters she received over the years.

• For anyone into documentaries, find out where Queen of Versailles is playing near you and go see it. Equal parts interesting, sad, funny, and infuriating, and showing at the Landmark Edina theater in Minnesota.

• Podcast recommendation: I've been going through the archives of Stop Podcasting Yourself with Graham Clark and Dave Shumka all week, listening to multiple episodes per day.

• My beloved Hardball Dynasty league on WhatIfSports.com starts a new season next week. If you're interested in joining, click here for more details.

• I wrote an article for the Society for American Baseball Research convention program that was a condensed version of my still-unfinished-on-the-blog "Top 40 Minnesota Twins" series. My article, along with articles from familiar names like John Bonnes, is now available online.

• Back by popular demand, this week's most amusing, weird, and random search engine queries that brought people here: